The Story of the Cooperative Education Physics Program at Howard University
The story told here is representative of so many stories of unsung heroes and leaders at the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities. It is an example of the soul of leadership and lets us know that leaders are those among us who take the initiative to make a difference.
I had heard snippets about the Cooperative Education Physics (CEP) program, of the legendary condensed matter physicist Dr. Arthur Thorpe at Howard University, of his plane, of the students who benefitted from this unique program, and of the woman who worked with him, Ms. Anne Cooke. I wanted to learn more about this unique program, so on May 24, 2017, I had a conversation with Cooke and Dr. Leslie Speller in historic Thirkield Hall, home of the Howard University Department of Physics and Astronomy. What you are about to read is largely a transcript of what I learned during this conversation and is based on the recollections of Cooke and Speller, as well as documentation that still exists in the archives of Ms. Cooke. Dr. Arthur N. Thorpe became an ancestor in June 2015, after serving the physics community as professor of physics at Howard University for over fifty years. During his tenure, he guided twelve students to the Ph.D. degree in physics.
So let me set the stage first and provide some background. Dr. Herman R. Branson received his B.S. degree in physics from Virginia State College in 1936, the second student to receive a B.S. degree in the department started by the third African American to receive a Ph.D. in physics, Dr. John McNeil Hunter. Only three years after completing his B.S. degree, Branson received his Ph.D. in physics in 1939 from the University of Cincinnati. He was the fifth African American to earn a Ph.D. in physics. In 1941, Branson joined Howard University as an assistant professor of physics and chemistry. He later was appointed as chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, where in the mid-1950s he started the first Ph.D. program in physics at an HBCU. His second student to graduate with a Ph.D. was Arthur N. Thorpe in 1964. With Arthur Thorpe begins the story of the CEP program. Thorpe’s colleagues in the program were Dr. Leslie Speller who received his Ph.D. in 1971 at Howard University and later taught physics for many years at what is now known as the University of the District of Columbia, and Ms. Anne Cooke, who worked with the CEP program, and later became the administrative assistant in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Howard University, a capacity she holds to this day.
Other persons instrumental to the success of the CEP program were three African American women – Willa Player, Audrey Dickerson and Anita Ford Allen – who worked at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, now known as the Department of Education. Dr. Player was President of Bennett College for 36 years and in 1966 was appointed by President Johnson as the first female Director of the Division of College Support in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, a position she held until retiring in 1986. Dickerson and Ford Allen worked as program officers for the Title III program. The women were instrumental in funding Dr. Thorpe’s grant for the CEP program under Title III. Ms. Cooke wanted to be sure that these women got the credit they deserved for funding an ambitious and maybe a bit risky program such as CEP.
Howard University to this day is in a unique position in that it is a private university that receives annual federal appropriations. Until the Nixon administration, the university payroll was actually in the federal budget, and the salaries of Howard University faculty and staff were aligned with the federal GS graded system while their paychecks were issued by the U.S. Treasury Department. The way faculty and staff are paid has since changed, but Howard University still receives federal appropriations and is thus not eligible for Title III funds. All Title III funds for the CEP program went to the participating HBCU institutions, not to Howard University.
The CEP program, which was conducted from 1974 to 1980, started with 12 HBCUs and eventually included 39 or 40 HBCUs, which are listed below. Arthur Thorpe realized that physics was not a career option for students attending smaller HBCUs and he wanted to change that situation. The idea was that HBCUs that did not offer a physics major would teach the introductory physics courses, and all general education and related courses to students at the home institution. The students would then spend two summers at Howard University to take the advanced physics courses, such as modern physics, quantum mechanics, mechanics, electricity & magnetism, and mathematical physics. Upon completion of all requirements, the students would receive the B.S. degree from their home institution. The CEP program was administered by Drs. Thorpe and Speller, as well as Ms. Cooke.
Each participating HBCU received funds for a physics laboratory and salary for a professor to teach the introductory physics courses from the grant. Some of the more expensive lab equipment was roving and was transported from school to school by Thorpe and Speller, sometimes on Thorpe’s private plane. Thus the students could perform physics experiments although they had little equipment on their campus. Under the conditions of the grant, Thorpe and Speller had to visit each institution at least twice a year. Again, often Thorpe would fly his plane, always at his own expense. It is noteworthy that Dr. Thorpe was an accomplished pilot and flew fighter jets in the U.S. Air Force in the early 1950s.
From 1974 to 1980, over a hundred students from the participating institutions would come to Howard University each summer. The grant paid for their tuition at Howard, travel, and room and board. During our conversation, Ms. Cooke revealed that she was the person communicating with the students, picking them up at the airport, and being there for them during their stay. When she noticed, for example, that they often had no money to do laundry or buy a Coca Cola, she solicited private funds from organizations such as Bell Labs to be able to give each student $7 a week for incidental expenses. Bell Labs also provided funds to pay for the students’ tuition at their home institution for the academic year, since the students could not work in the summer and did not receive a stipend.
Ms. Cooke recalled that during the time of the CEP program there was much interaction between Howard physics graduates who worked as physicists for the federal government and Howard professors. They often shared laboratories on campus or at the government research site. Both Howard faculty and government physicists taught the summer courses for the students in the CEP program.
Ms. Cooke did not have the exact number of students who received a B.S. degree in physics through this program, but knew it was in the hundreds. Data from the 1970s on B.S. degree completion is scant. The 1993 Science & Engineering Indicators Report by the National Center of Science & Engineering Statistics shows that 3,416 B.S. degrees were awarded to Black students in 1977 in the natural sciences, comprising all physical, environmental, biological and agricultural sciences. If we optimistically assume that about 100 of these degrees were awarded in the field of physics, this would mean that a large portion of Black physics majors at the time were part of the CEP program.
What a difference and contribution the perseverance of two men and one woman, Dr. Arthur Thorpe, Dr. Leslie Speller and Ms. Anne Cooke, with the help of their colleagues, made to the field of physics and to Black physicists. If not for Cooke’s meticulous record keeping and her amazing memory, this story could not be told. Join me in telling the stories of the women and men who made similarly amazing contributions to STEM research and education at HBCUs.
The list of HBCUs (as they were known in the 1970s) that participated in the CEP program as provided by Ms. Cooke:
Alabama State University, Albany State College, Alcorn State University, Allen University, Barber-Scotia College, Bethune Cookman University, Claflin College, Coahoma Junior College, College of the Virgin Islands, Coppin State College, District of Columbia Teachers College (now UDC), Edward Waters College, Elizabeth City State University, Fayetteville State College, Florida Memorial College, Fort Valley State College, Huston-Tillotson University, Jarvis Christian College, Knoxville College, Lane College, Langston University, Lawson State Community College, LeMoyne Owen College, Livingston College, Miles College, Mississippi Valley State University, Morris College, Oakwood College, Paul Quinn College, Philander Smith College, Savannah State College, S.D. Bishop Jr. College. St. Paul’s College, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Utica Jr. College (now Hinds Community College), Voorhees College, West Virginia State College, Wiley College, Winston Salem State University. Ms. Cooke was not sure if Bowie State University was a participating HBCU or not.
It is sad to note that St. Paul’s College closed its doors in 2013, and Barber-Scotia College and Knoxville College are fighting for accreditation and survival.
The author thanks Ms. Anne Cooke and Dr. Leslie Speller for the interview and the valuable information. Thanks also to Drs. Orlando Taylor, Leonard Haynes, and Michael Winston for the information about the history of Howard University. A special thank you goes to Dr. Demetrius Venable for contributing to this article. Venable was one of the professors hired in the CEP program and worked at St. Paul’s College for two years. He later went to Hampton University where he founded the Ph.D. program in physics and held many positions, including provost. He ended his career at Howard University where he was chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy for 12 years years. I include all who are mentioned in the soul of leadership circle.
Dr. Claudia Rankins, Program Director of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program at the National Science Foundation, Fielder Fellow, and recipient of the Ph.D. in physics in the inaugural class of Ph.D. awardees at Hampton University.